Inside the Season Pass: 12 PS4 Releases Examined

May 4, 2015
Written by Tyler Treese

Few concepts have proved to be as controversial in the gaming space as the DLC (downloadable content) Season Pass. While DLC was originally thought to be a way to extend a game’s life after it came out, it has now become a planned part of the business plan for almost every major release. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with this concept, many have been skeptical about purchasing DLC ahead of time when the player has no clue if the quality will be there.

In order to find out if season passes are a good deal, PlayStation LifeStyle has decided to take a look back at 12 different PS4 releases to see how several developers have handled DLC on Sony’s latest system. Take a look at what we found below:

Ultimately, compared to the full game there is rarely enough content in the season passes to justify the premium price that they are offering. That said, they are still the best way to purchase a sizable chunk of DLC if you’re set on having every add-on for a particular release. However, it doesn’t make much sense for those not planning to repeatedly go back to the game. Throw in that the DLC is more often at a lower quality than the main game (although there have been some notable exceptions) and you have a recipe for failure.

We’d also like to point out that not all games fall into these trappings. A few of the games we looked at including Resogun offered up a good amount of content for a reasonable price. It should also be stated that Resogun was the only title that wasn’t announced to have DLC until months after the original release. Hopefully more games will take Sony’s example and offer compelling content, at a proper price point, that is developed after the game has been out.

Let us know your thoughts on recent DLCs and Season Passes in games. Do you regret buying them? Have you accepted that they’re now part of every big AAA game release?